Little league soccer is already a chaotic jumble of shuffling feet, swinging ponytails, and too-big shin guards. Now, imagine the anarchy that might happen if you were to push your little players onto the field without teaching them the rules of the game.

Honestly, it could be fun to watch the fallout. But you certainly wouldn’t expect your team to win.

Why?

Because if you don’t understand how to measure, reach for, and achieve success, there is no point in getting on the field in the first place.

This is the same principle that makes brand guidelines so important in marketing. Trying to market yourself online without establishing your brand guidelines would be like trying to win a soccer game with a scuba mask and lacrosse stick. Hilarious, but unproductive.

So, where do you start?

Step One: Understand Why You Need Brand Guidelines

There are many reasons to create an outlined set of rules for your brand. For starters, a brand that is cohesive and consistent is more memorable. If you want your customers (current and future) to recognize you across all platforms, you need to define what it is that makes your brand unique.

A cohesive set of rules will also make your marketing team more efficient. If there’s an established document for people to turn to, there will be a lot less trial and error and a lot more trial and success. So if you’re hoping to both differentiate yourself and make your marketing efforts more streamlined, you have to start by setting the ground rules.

Step Two: Identify What Your Guidelines Should Include

The purpose of brand guidelines is to have all your brand-relevant information in one handy document. That way, you know exactly where to turn to (or point people to) when questions about your marketing strategy arise. But what, exactly, qualifies as brand-relevant information?

Keep in mind that your brand is what makes your business different from others in the industry. It includes details like the logo, mission statement, and personality you present to the world. With this being the case, your brand guidelines should include a wide variety of details, including:

Your Brand Story

Every successful marketing campaign will cause the consumer to feel something. So ask yourself, what do you want your ideal client to feel when he thinks of your business?
With these emotions in mind, you can create a brand narrative that invites the consumer into your world. Done well, a brand story will motivate readers to continue engaging by buying, following, or signing up for more.

Your Brand’s Color Palette

Once you know your brand story and the feelings you want your brand to evoke, you can begin to think about that idea a little more concretely. Specifically, you can think about how to visually convey your brand story through colors.

Choosing a color palette for your brand may seem like a small task, but it is much more important than many people realize. In fact, according to a study performed by the University of Loyola, Maryland, color has the power to increase brand recognition by as much as 80%! That’s a pretty big deal if you ask us.

Now, there’s a lot of psychology that plays into how colors affect perceptions (and even behavior.) But here’s a basic overview of how certain colors make an impact. Research has shown that we see:

• Black as expensive, sophisticated, and luxurious
• White as simplistic, clean, and pure
• Purple as majestic, mysterious, and spiritual
• Green as sustainable, natural, and prestigious
• Pink as fun, youthful, and romantic
• Blue as calming, peaceful, and trustworthy
• Red as exciting and bold

Do a deeper dive into the colors you’ve envisioned for your brand to discover if they’re a good fit for your narrative and guidelines.

Your Brand’s Typography and Font Preferences

We’ve already created an in-depth article regarding this topic. But what you need to know is that the right font can and does make a difference for your website. It helps you to stay consistent with your narrative, make content more accessible, and build a strong sense of your brand’s personality. That’s why it’s such an important part of effective brand guidelines.

Your Brand’s Graphic Guidelines

By this point, you should have a pretty good feel for the graphics and images that speak to your brand. To provide inspiration for future creators, you might add a section to your guidelines that include photos, images, and graphics that fit the bill. If you’re drawing a blank, visit some websites of your competitors to get an idea of what does and does not work.

Your Brand’s Voice, Defined

A lot of your business’s online marketing efforts will take the form of the written word. Before you can craft a blog post, home page introduction, or Tweet, you have to establish a strong writing style to keep these efforts cohesive. You might do this yourself or by hiring a copywriter. Either way, it’s important to define your voice before you start writing.

Remember, these are just a few of the components you might find helpful to include. Really, any information that could be considered relevant down the road should be included in the document. Here’s an example of a successful brand guideline document that we helped ToasterTubs put together.